


Wrecking Ball

by vesta02



Category: The Wayhaven Chronicles (Interactive Fiction)
Genre: Angst, Book 2, Canon scenes, Character Study, F/M, Laurel 'if I can hit it I WILL' Jones, Sort Of, Two emotionally constipated people falling in love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-05
Updated: 2020-09-05
Packaged: 2021-03-07 00:01:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26307508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vesta02/pseuds/vesta02
Summary: "Softness falls away instead and Laurel does what she knows best: she hits and she hits hard."Laurel Jones tries to force Adam's walls down. A small snippet with canon dialogue during Book 2.
Relationships: Female Detective/Adam du Mortain
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	Wrecking Ball

**Author's Note:**

> Did I listen to Walk Off the Earth's cover of 'Wrecking Ball' while I wrote this? You bet your butt I did.

Laurel is a force of nature: physically and verbally combative if given the chance, smashing her way through the world to find solutions and the truth. There’s little that she can consider ‘delicate’ about herself, always knowing her hands are too rough to ever be considered tender. It’s easier to push away, she thinks, rather than get hurt when those around her figured out that her heart was scarred and mangled; that there was too much blood in her mouth to be kind and demons haunted her waking steps more and more these days.

Still, she has a flickering hope at the center of her chest when she sees  _ him _ , trying to unclench her fists and soften bit by bit. It’s not fair, she realizes quickly, that two people with walls this high can’t seem to find a way through. 

Softness falls away instead and Laurel does what she knows best: she hits and she hits  _ hard _ .

“I think that's enough history for today. You don't want to know everything about me.” He closes off with a swiftness that Laurel expects, but that doesn’t mean she accepts it. Her fists ball at her sides, eyes narrowing in the moonlight coming through the windows of the training room.

“You know what? I think it's more that you don't  _ want  _ me to.” Raising her chin, Laurel stares him down, annoyed that she cares enough to keep pushing against this, almost pleased to watch as his breath catches when she says this.

“What?” He looks over his shoulder, eyes narrowed as the pair of them face off again today, only this time she swings with words rather than her fists.

“I want to know,” Laurel begins, moving towards him, “but you’re the one who is too scared to share anything personal with me.” Arms crossing, she stands her ground as Adam fully turns towards her. “Aren’t you interested?” 

“You’re asking if-” Adam cuts himself off, his jaw working as it clenches visibly. “I cannot answer that.”

“Can’t?” Laurel goads, “Or won’t?” She wants to reach out, to let the tension sizzle between them with hits and jabs; verbal sparring has never been a favorite, not when she can’t seem to find an upper hand with Adam. He keeps moving, evading her words with a ferocity to keep himself closed off from every attempt she makes.

His answer gets drowned out as she throws her hands in the air. “Honestly, Adam, I’m trying to understand what’s happening between us but anytime I get close, you keep pushing me as far as you can. I don’t understand what’s going on here!”

“Then stay out of it!”

“ _ Make me _ !” The air sizzles around her as Laurel shoves a finger into Adam’s chest, her dark brown eyes fixed on him with ferocity and anger and something much,  _ much _ deeper than she understood. 

_ Let me in, Adam. _

It’s the way his jaw clenches when their eyes meet, as though something were pulling him back again and again. No matter how hard she hit, where she struck her blows, the answer remained the same as she stared at a solid wall between the pair of them.

She can smell him, a heady blend of musk and leather, and something that is just so rightfully  _ him _ . It’s electric and she struggles to find her breath in the seconds that pass between them. Laurel knows it would be easier to simply walk away, but she’s too stubborn to even consider it. He’s like gravity and she’s pulled towards him, closer and closer each time they come into contact with one another. 

After Bobby, relationships seemed too much work, especially when betrayal still stung beneath the surface. Is this a relationship, or the beginning of one? Laurel’s dizzy as she glances to his mouth, watching as his lips part, a huffing pant escaping his lungs. 

God, she wants to kiss him,  _ hard _ . 

It could be so easy to sink her fingers into the front of his shirt, to drag her mouth to his, to see him so thoroughly mussed and breathless in the moonlight. Something deeper and darker wants to see him come completely undone before her, her cheeks flushed at the images that dance across her mind. It’s not just because it’s been too long since she’s been with someone, but she knows it has something to do with it.

It’s about being with him, not someone who’s convenient or easy. Adam has been anything  _ but _ easy in these last few months, driving her to extremes in her emotions, looking for a way to sneak past the cracks in his veneer. 

But the moment passes far too quickly as she watches Adam pull back, already retreating behind those icy green eyes, his jaw clenched in some sort of attempt to get a handle on himself again. All her energy rushes out in a long breath, her shoulders sagging a little when there’s space between the pair of them, fighting against the confusion that swells in her chest. No amount of hitting the walls in front of her feels like it makes sense, wounded in ways she can’t articulate.

“Adam-” she begins, but he’s adjusting his coat, the barest hint of a flush along his cheeks that fades too quickly the only reminder that they were close moments before.

“You should get some sleep.” The walls rise high and hard before her eyes, the softness and yearning she swore was there vanishing with a few blinks. He’s physically pulling away from her and Laurel refuses to let the sag in her shoulders appear while he’s still looking at her.

“Fine!” It’s easier to be angry, turning towards the dummy he was hitting moments ago. Her curled fist lands a hit at the head as she watches it wobble a moment before finally huffing her way to the door. She wants to look back, but her pride keeps her stiff-backed and moving forward with purpose. 

Even in anger, Laurel knows she can’t let go of this, not yet. Her hands soften at her sides as she reaches her room, not sure she’ll be able to sleep now. No matter how many hits she lands, she’s not sure even  _ she _ can knock down Adam’s walls.


End file.
